Mozart Tonight - Hardcover

Julie Downing

3.25

20 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0027328813 ISBN 13: 9780027328813

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 1991

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

On an evening in Prague as he prepares to present his new opera, Mozart looks back on his life

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 1-5-- Downing's lovely picture book life of Mozart begins with the gala opening night of Don Giovanni , and children will feel that they are right there in the Prague of 1787! In a few very brief but dramatic scenes she then returns to Mozart's precocious childhood, his time with the Archbishop in Salzburg, and finally his years with Stanzi in Vienna--always in difficulty, always hopeful, always composing. It is astonishing enough to have one successful picture book about Mozart available, and now, all at once, there are two. Brighton's Mozart: Scenes from the Childhood of the Great Composer (Doubleday, 1990), however, is the more outstanding of the pair. By limiting herself to Mozart's childhood, Brighton is able to tell a more cohesive story, and her illustrations are masterful. But Downing has made what must have been difficult choices about what to include in such a brief story and made them well. Her watercolor drawings are full of drama and will delight young readers, giving them a real sense of what it would be like to live in Mozart's world. Fortunately, the two books complement each other, Brighton's picturing childhood events and Downing's moving quickly through Mozart's entire life. "Bravo, Mozart." Bravo Brighton and Downing! --Ann Stell, The Smithtown Library, NY
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

Here's a book that reads like a movie. From the opening shot (an aerial view of the Prague Opera House, lit up for the premiere of Mozart's Don Giovanni ) on to a quick closeup of the composer and his wife, through the long flashback to the composer's birth in Salzburg, remarkable childhood and debt-ridden but immensely creative adult life, readers are treated to a succession of sumptuous visual images, accompanied by an absorbing story line. Downing has chosen to present the tale in the first person, a strategy that slightly blurs the line between biography and fiction, but empowers the subject with a sense of immediacy. Her luminous watercolors are filled with the kinds of detail--architectural fine points, period costume, even the outrageous hairstyles of the day--that are obviously the fruit of extensive research. As an introduction to the man and his music, this is a winner in every way. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.